Justin Taylor Vacillates: The Elephant Room: What Really Happened, and How Things Could Have Been Different – Justin Taylor

Heresy Kills.  Sounds sweet but it's deadly.

And in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1:6) we read: “The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added.”  Gary Crampton



It would appear that Justin Taylor has joined with those who support the false teaching of T.D. Jakes' modalism and "manifestations" language. The bottom line for Taylor is:

But here’s the problem, as I see it: at the end of the day, we just don’t know precisely what he believes. This should chasten both sides.

I hope you will forgive me for becoming a Lutheran for a moment but this is the worst line of bull I have ever heard in my life. As if dissimulation, dodging the questions, giving ambiguous answers, and playing both sides of the fence exonerates T.D. Jakes from his oneness Pentecostal theology? He openly says in the interview that he "moves" in both circles, i.e., trinitarian and oneness Pentecostal circles:

Jakes: You know, you know, let me just make one little comment: one of the things that you said, and [garbled] even as we talked about it before, and [garbled] said this too, that there is going to be one throne and there’s going to be one God that we can see. And I thought the more I hear everybody arguing about this… we’re all saying the same thing. And we like fight about it to the death, and I just think that in the world that we’re living in today, if if we could just connect, and I know that we’ll always be depraved, and there will always be people who define themselves by their differences rather than their connections, who are more comfortable if they’re known by what they are against than by what they are for. But when I hear you say that there’s gonna be one throne and one God on that throne, My soul leaps in celebration, and I hear both of us stumbling trying to explain how God does what He does like He does. I think That stumbling is worship. I think That stumbling is worship. I think that we would humble ourselves and say, “Your thoughts and ways are beyond human comprehension” is what makes worship fill the room. From: Apprising Ministries: The Elephant Room

So what Jakes is saying here is that the issue of the Trinity is really a matter of adiaphora or indifference and it is all a mystery anyway so, "Why cain't we all just get along???" Justin Taylor is essentially just another theological liberal pushing relativism, paradox, and mystery as an excuse for heresy. This is the same path that Socinians and theological liberals went down. It is also the same path that the existentialist and neo-orthodox theologians went down. Basically, we cannot know what God says because God is totally transcendent and it is all a mystery. Unless you're a Pentecostal and have a direct phone line to God's throne room that is. Are we all REALLY just saying the same thing? OR could it possibly be that God says there is a Triunity in the Godhead and there are three distinct persons or subsistences within the Godhead? If the latter, then T. D. Jakes is just as lost as any Mormon or any Unitarian.


How Justin Taylor can say that Jakes is not a false prophet and a false teacher I have no idea. Scripture EXPLICITLY says that we are NOT to fellowship with false teachers who deny the Trinity and the full and complete deity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God come in the flesh. That IS the bottom line, folks. (John 1:1, 2, 11, 18; 2 John 1:7-11).

For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. (2 John 1:7-11 NKJV)

So T.D. Jakes is a seeker sensitive false teacher who knows how to fool even professional ministers like the wishy washy Justin Taylor. I am impressed. All a false teacher needs to do is play both sides of the fence and appeal to mystery.

Maybe this is why I became a Scripturalist? Propositional truth leaves no room for ambiguity. The Bible clearly and unequivocally teaches that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and that there is one God and three distinct persons within the one divine nature of God. (2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19; 2 Peter 1:2; Titus 2:13; 2 John 1:7-11).

Click here to read Justin Taylor's original post: The Elephant Room: What Really Happened, and How Things Could Have Been Different – Justin Taylor



Addendum:

Scripturalism is a world and life view. A worldview is a set of beliefs about the various issues of life. All persons have worldviews; they are inescapable. One’s worldview will determine how he views the entirety of life, the decisions he makes, why he does what he does, and so forth. And all worldviews have presuppositions which govern their system of belief; these presuppositions function as axioms from which all decisions are deduced. Scripturalism is that system of belief in which the Word of God is foundational in the entirety of one’s philosophical and theological dealings2. This system of thought avers that Christians should never try to combine secular and Christian notions. Rather, all thoughts are to be brought into captivity to the Word of God (2 Corinthians 10:5), which is (a part of) the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Our minds must be transformed “to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” as found in Scripture (Romans 12:2), i.e., our thoughts must progressively become God’s thoughts (Isaiah 55:6-9), which divine thoughts are only known by the Word of God. Scripturalism, then, teaches that all of our knowledge is to be derived from the Bible, which has a systematic monopoly on truth. This approach to a Christian worldview is taught by the Apostle Paul and is confirmed by the teachings of the Westminster Standards3. In the words of the apostle: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). And in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1:6) we read: “The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added.”  Gary Crampton, "Scripturalism: A Christian Worldview."